Political friction surrounding the conduct of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is escalating across multiple fronts, moving from courtroom challenges to street demonstrations. While the Supreme Court is already reviewing existing legal petitions regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, an additional plea challenging administrative decisions within the Election Commission has now been brought before the judiciary. The Supreme Court has agreed to take up the matter for hearing next week, even as opposition organizations assemble plans for nationwide agitation.
Fresh Legal Scrutiny in the Supreme Court
The petitions submitted before the apex court raise pointed questions about the decision-making process inside the poll regulatory body. The petitioners contend that several crucial resolutions regarding the SIR exercise were executed without securing the formal concurrence of other Election Commission members. Among the reliefs sought in one of the applications is explicit official action targeting CEC Gyanesh Kumar directly. While the bench has scheduled arguments for the coming week, these assertions remain petitioner claims that await formal adjudication by the judiciary.
Street Agitation Announced from Mumbai
Expanding the dispute beyond formal party alliances, the Cockroach Janata Party has declared an aggressive public agitation targeting Gyanesh Kumar. Party founder Abhijit Dipke announced that the campaign represents a definitive standoff that will persist until Kumar departs from the commission. According to Dipke, the demonstrations will formally begin at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. The group has tabled four specific demands: the immediate resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, criminal proceedings against him, an outright freeze on the ongoing SIR operations, and the conduct of upcoming elections strictly under the previously existing SIR rolls.
Mamata Banerjee Denounces Poll Body Operations
Trinamool Congress chief and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched sharp criticisms against the Chief Election Commissioner during deliberations among opposition leaders in New Delhi. Questioning the institutional neutrality of the Election Commission, Banerjee alleged that Gyanesh Kumar operates as a 'puppet' of the BJP, further accusing the ruling party of securing electoral victories through 'vote theft.' She stated that the countdown has begun for the central government, remarking that opposition formations have cast aside their mutual differences to unite in defense of democratic principles. Banerjee asserted that Gyanesh Kumar's exit is inevitable alongside the political departure of the Modi administration.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Extends Merger Proposal
Amid the intense rhetoric, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury introduced a striking political maneuver by openly inviting Mamata Banerjee to bring her party back into the Congress fold. Noting that Banerjee originally emerged from the Congress organization, Chowdhury argued that merging her outfit with the parent party would substantially consolidate the strength of the collective opposition. He called upon Banerjee to return alongside her sitting Members of Parliament and legislative assembly members, affirming that the Congress stands fully prepared to accept her political leadership within West Bengal.
